Thursday, January 8, 2009
NIGERIA, WHAT A HELMET?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
A GERMAN BILLIONAIRE COMMITS SUICIDE!
A German billionaire, Adolf Merckle pictured here top left, committed suicide after his business empire, which included interests ranging from pharmaceuticals to cement, ran into trouble amidst the current global financial crisis. His weapon of choice, a fast moving train similar to the one pictured here below, which he threw himself in front of and was crushed to death near his villa in Blaubeuren-Weller. Blaubeuren-Weller, in the state of Baden-Württemberg is about 100 miles west of Munich in southwestern Germany.
Adolf Merckle, 74, was ranked as the world's 94th richest person in 2008, with a personal fortune, estimated at $9.2 billion, according to Forbes magazine. According to his family's statement announcing his death, "Adolf Merckle lived and worked for his family and his firms; the distress to his firms caused by the financial crisis and the related uncertainties of recent weeks, along with the helplessness of no longer being able to handle the situation, broke the passionate family businessman, and he ended his life.” The police in Ulm confirmed that his suicide note has been found but has not made the contents public. A native of Dresden, Mr. Adolf Merckle made his way to Western Germany after World War II, where he parlayed his family business in chemicals into one of the biggest pharmaceutical concerns in the world. He built his family’s small pharmaceutical business into a 120-firm conglomerate employing 100,000 people. He was regarded as a modest man who frequently bicycled to work. His business empire also included HeidelbergCement, the company that bought the once mighty British conglomerate Hanson with more than €10 ($15) billion in sales, Ratiopharm, a recognized generics-drugs maker that became a brand unto itself with about €2 ($3) billion in revenue and Phoenix, a drugs wholesaler with about €20 ($30) billion in revenue. Mr. Adolf Merckle also owned stakes in companies that made a wide array of goods from all-terrain vehicles, software to textiles. In addition to his personal worth estimated at more than $9 billion by Forbes magazine, his companies’ combined turnover was in excess of $40 billion, making him Germany’s fifth richest man! The last weeks of his life were spent with his holding company, VEM Vermögensverwaltung wrangling with a consortium of banks for a bridge-loan that would secure credit for his companies, following the global financial meltdown. He was to lose some of his company holdings as a result of the restructuring but which outcome he would rather not see; - his businesses being consumed as a result of disastrous investments and the global financial crisis. Mr. Merckle also lost several hundreds of millions of dollars last year in a misplaced stock-market bets in Volkswagen AG, in which he wagered that the stock price would fall. According to people with knowledge about the matter, the stock instead skyrocketed in what market participants have described as one of the most dramatic short squeezes ever. As Mr. Merckle grew increasingly desperate to keep his empire afloat, he lobbied the regional government in his home state of Baden-Württemberg late last year for temporary financial backing but to no avail; culminating to his death by suicide on Monday, January 5th, 2009. Icheoku asks, did Adolf Merckle sell his soul to the devil of his vast financial empire? How could a billionaire who came to this world with nothing be so distrust that he cannot survive on a few hundreds of millions of dollars less, that he would rather jump in front of a fast moving train? Even if it had meant liquidating or winding-down, any option would have been better than smashing oneself in front of a moving train. That he was facing the possibility of an imminent dismantling of his vast financial and business empire as well as the sale of major holdings in one of his flag-ship company is not a sufficient justification for what his family is now being forced to deal with. According to one analyst, who like Icheoku, could not understand why a billionaire should kill himself because of economic downturn, Mr. Adolf Merckle probably had other issues bothering him and the current economic crisis provided him with the much needed tipping-point to go over the cliff's edge. Mr. Adolf Merckle was survived by his wife and four children. Icheoku does not understand the justification for this suicide as there is nothing to try to understand; however to the bereaved family, we say, seek the face of the Lord for solace as you bear the loss of your patriarch! Please accept our condolence!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
STEVE JOBS, NEEDS A MIRACLE OF HEALTH?
Pictured right is the then normal looking SJ wearing eye-glasses, looking his resplendent self. The other time SJ was in Japan feasting at one of the finest sushi restaurants in town with some of his inner business executives, he informed them that his pancreatic cancer/ colon problem appears to be in remission. The last time he appeared in San Francisco to launch the G3 IPhone, SJ said that his abnormally thin frame was diet-related and normal; and should not be a source for concern of the technological-savvy world. This year, rumour has it that SJ is so Nicole Ritchie-looking that he decided to completely abandon appearing at his company's this year's MacWorld ritual in San Francisco. The new line now concerning his state of health, is that his frighteningly emaciated frame is a result of abnormal hormonal firings? Just some hormone imbalance? Icheoku says, give me a break; as we and many other fans, do not buy this latest attempt at spinning what is ailing the Apple's Chief Executive Officer to acceptability. SJ and Apple should come clean and level with the world of technology on what is awry with our gadget wizard!
NIGERIA, AN ANTI-SAME SEX COUNTRY?
Their supposed acts of affection were interpreted by the Sokoto Police Command as a ‘discreditable conduct’ for which they were immediately fired from the police force, under an existing "police code"?
Icheoku says, Nigeria is gradually but surely being forced by these northern mallams, into an Islamic country with zero-tolerance for some modernity. It is either sharia law today, stoning-sentence tomorrow, cancelling a beauty pageant there and now the sacking of some alleged "lesbian" police couple? This intolerance is not healthy for any developing society as we all should learn how to accept or better tolerate each other's differences for a stronger union. Let us leave the judgment as to what is right or wrong for the Almighty God to be the judge.
Monday, January 5, 2009
OMO OMORUYI, DOES IT PAY TO SERVE NIGERIA?
Saturday, January 3, 2009
GHANA, CONGRATULATIONS ON THIS MILESTONE!
To the monster Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Icheoku says you should now cover your horrifying face in ashes and hide it under a sack-cloth filled with shame, for the sham election, nay selection in Nigeria that imposed Umaru Yar'Adua on Nigerians. Look at Ghana and be very ashamed of yourself for not living up to the calling when duty called; because your devilish third term ploy was thwarted, you imposed a very sick weakling Umaru Yar'Adua on Nigeria and today, the result is a Nigeria that has almost stalled completely. Shame on you Olusegun Obasanjo.
To the other Nigeria despicable fellow, Nigeria's INEC chairman Maurice Iwu, Icheoku asks, do you now see that the word integrity still exists as examplified in Kwodo Afari-Gyan of the Ghana electoral commission, pictured here right? With 50.23% of the votes, the electoral commission today January 3, 2009 declared the opposition candidate Attah Mills the winner of a tight presidential run-off in Ghana. In his glorious voice, Afari-Gyan declared, on the basis of the official results given, it is my duty to declare Professor John Evans Atta Mills the president-elect of the Republic of Ghana"! The present government party New Patriotic Party candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, 64, secured 49.77% of the votes.
Juxtaposing Ghana's President-elect, Professor John Attah Mills campaign slogan "I believe in Ghana" can any past and present leader of Nigeria so declare that he sincerely believes in Nigeria? However, Nigerians must not slumber but persist in their quest for the Ghana's example that one day, they may be able to elect a president-leader of their choice and stop being held hostage in a gulag by a cabal-imposed president. Another implication of the Ghana's election result is that Muhammad Buhari of Nigeria should not loose hope about winning the Nigerian presidency, since the President-elect John Attah Mills failed twice in his past presidential election attempts in Ghana. Until that day when Africa shall be free to elect her presidents, may what happened in Ghana be a symbol of hope that, that day shall one day come. Finally, Icheoku says, Ghana enjoy your well-deserved democracy!
IGBOS OF (BIAFRA) NIGERIA, WHERE ARE YOU?
At the inception of the Nigerian experiment in 1960, there were four regions - northern region with its capital at Kaduna, western region with headquarter in Ibadan, mid-western region with Benin and eastern region with Enugu as the headquarter. Today all the other regional capitals are being treated like an integral part of Nigeria city with the exception of Enugu. Since the end of fire-arm hostilities between Biafra and Nigeria, each successive Nigerian government has continued with this vanquished-mentality treatment of the Igbo people; which pattern was most felt during the tragedy of Olusegun Obasanjo eight years of ignoble rule in Nigeria; when he tried but failed to totally emasculate the Igbo people of Nigeria. Several of Igbo proprietary businesses were closed including Savannah Bank, Societe General Bank, Slok airlines, Ibeto cement etc just to mention but a few. Now President Umaru Yar'Adua has shooed-in to complete the decimation of the Igbo people of Nigeria - the sick man from Katsina has taken "project kill-off Igbo people" to the next level and it is becoming really very septic.
Now every political zone and region in Nigeria has a city and/or cities designated by President Umaru Yar'Adua as a top priority "major" city for his planned security condone except for Enugu and all the other key Igbo cities of Onitsha, Aba and Nnewi? What is going on, Nigeria? If you guys do not want the Igbo people any longer in Nigeria, let them go their way instead of the ever present very discriminatory treatment you continuously mete out to them?
When will the Igbo people of Nigeria say enough is enough and demand for their full integration in Nigeria or asked to be allowed to opt out? Yes, there are so many Igbo people in positions of "authority" as well as other supposed Igbo "leaders" whose relevance as such, in view of their stand in the face of the continued pressure-cooker marginalization of the Igbos in Nigeria, has since become somewhat questionable. Oha n'eze Ndi-Igbo, this is a wake-up call for you to take a stand and demand from President Umaru Yar'Adua the basis of his current rating of some cities in Nigeria as "major" cities while leaving behind every city in Igboland therefrom. Or is the menace of armed robberies/kidnappings in Onitsha, Aba, Enugu and Nnewi not enough to warrant the same security arrangement as are being planned for Ibadan, Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt, Kano, Kaduna and Maiduguri? Enough should be enough! It is time to say it and mean it! Now is time for the Igbos of Nigeria to take a firm stand or forever cower at the feet of these other Nigerians who are gradually enslaving them. Icheoku says, the Igbos should say to these Nigerians' slave-masters, either you give us freedom or you give us death but the present state of slavery-limbo is unacceptable!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
OLUSEGUN OBASANJO, SHOULD FACE FIRING SQUAD?
As the president cum oil/petroleum minister of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo's hold on the Nigerian economy was so enormous that Icheoku says he is solely responsible for all that went awry with Nigeria including the plummeting value of the Naira which went from 75 Naira to a dollar in 1999 to the over 148 Naira per dollar when he was forced out of his third term dream land in 2007. His regime's sanctioned numerous assassinations and political murders does not help with mitigation at all in the "guilty as charged" verdict by many Nigerians on Olusegun Obasanjo. Now the mother of all Olusegun Obasanjo's litany of corruption has been unearthed - he awarded several oil-blocks worth several millions of dollars to some thirty-eight (38) unregistered firms during his ignominious regime. Holly macro! And Nigerians are still waiting? What for and what other evidence is needed before this medicine man of Otta is tied to the stake and shot for economic sabotage and crimes against Nigerians? The Odi and Zaki Ibiam communities in Bayelsa and Benue States, respectively, massacres carried out by his regime is substantive in this effort too. When the cession of Nigeria's Bakassi to Cameroon is added to the trachea of Obasanjo's crimes, then may be, his head will be delivered hoisted in a stake and paraded in a macabre-style at the Eagle square in Abuja. This Olusegun Obasanjo is a bastard son of a bastard father whose mother is a whore and does not deserve to live a free man in Nigeria. What example is his continued freedom showing to the rest of Nigerian leaders - that it is ok to be a very corrupt tyrant, provided you choose a stooge to succeed you, if forced out of office? Any Nigeria not enraged by Olusegun Obsaanjo's continued freedom, after all the ills that he perpetrated on Nigerians while in office, is either part of the reason why Nigeria is stunted all these years since her independence or is completely insane! How can it be that this army mechanic from Otta should be allowed to get away with all that he visited upon Nigerians during his reign? It really smells bad. What a putrid scumbag, Olusegun Obasanjo is?
This earth-quaking revelation that 38 oil companies, that were not even registered, won interests in 23 oil blocks during the 2005 oil-blocks bids exercise under the infamous Olusegun Obasanjo regime is mind-numbing indeed. A report by the Nigeria House of Representatives ad hoc committee that probed the oil sector from 1999 to 2007 (Obasanjo presidency) also showed that $2,629,275,667 was realised as signature bonus through the sale of additional 36 oil blocks during the bid rounds and have not been duly accounted for. The committee went frther to criticise President Olusegun Obasanjo who was also the then minister of petroleum for all these discrepancies. It was also established that companies that did not even register for the bid process were pre-qualified, and eventually awarded blocks in clear violation of both the Internal Memorandum and the Guidelines of the exercise under the supervision and order and approval of Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo, while in office came up with a "clever by half" initiative to entice National Oil Companies (NOCs) from Asia including China, Taiwan, India and South Korea to acquire oil blocks for the first time in Nigeria. These Asian National Oil Companies (ANOCs) were given the Right of First Refusal (RFR) and discounted signature bonuses on a number of oil blocks in return for their commitment to invest in downstream and infrastructure projects in Nigeria to the sum of US$20 billion. In short Olusegun Obasanjo battered Nigeria's oil and gas for some promised investments.
MKO TIBETAN 2009 BOOK OF PREDICTIONS!
Prophet M.K.O. Tibetan can be reached on 9734184397 (USA), 08037171730 (Nigeria), 53861033987 (Ireland) and 07903093637 (London)!
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Wednesday, December 31, 2008
NIGERIA, THE 6TH KIDNAPPING-CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
NIGERIA, SOME HIGH-UP CORRUPTION CASES STILL PENDING?
1. Iyabo Bello Obasanjo's three (300) hundred million Naira bribery scandal:- the daughter of former president Olusegun Obasanjo was involved in a three (300) hundred million Naira Health ministry bribery scandal and to date, this matter appears to have been swept under the corrupt Nigerian carpet. Why would this be and yet Umaru Yar'Adua purports to be running an anti-corruption government? Icheoku is not saying that the daughter of your mentor must be jailed for dipping her hand in the Nigerian pie, no, but that the investigation into the alleged gratification be concluded one way or another. Nigerians need clarity of purpose as it appertains to this very scandal. First it involves a former first daughter and some accomplice to the crime, former Minister of Health Professor Adenike Grange and Gabriel Aduku as well as some other officials were fired because of this, so why treat Iyabo Bello Obasanjo differently as an untouchable? This question must be conclusively resolved by your government for its credibility. The 56-Count Criminal Charge of Fraud and Embezzlement of public funds levelled against Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello by the EFCC has not been adjudicated; since the prosecutor, James Binang read it out in court as follows: “That you, Iyabo Obasanjo Bello (now at large) sometimes between December 2007 and March 2008 at Abuja within the jurisdiction of the high court of the Federal Capital Territory while serving as the chairperson, Senate Committee on Health in the National Assembly, dishonestly retained the sum of N10, 000,000 belonging to Federal Government of Nigeria, having reason to believe same to be stolen property thereby committed an offence punishable under section 317 of the Penal Code cap 352, Law of Federation of Nigeria (Abuja)1990.”
2. Senator Jubril Aminu's twelve (12) million dollars Siemens bribery scandal:- This serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from Adamawa State was a co-beneficiary of a twelve (12) million dollar bribery scandal which was extorted from Siemens as a condition precedent for winning some contracts in Nigeria. Ever since the scandal broke, the powers that be in Nigeria have been in an over-drive attempt to wish the matter away but to no avail. Icheoku is calling on Umaru Yar'Adua to show some example with this bribery scandal that no one, including a sitting Nigerian Senator is above the law. In the United States if America a long term Senator from Alaska Ted Stevens was convicted and forced out of office for receiving some gifts but in Nigeria, a senator who demanded and received bribe is still being sheltered by the government of Umaru Yar'Adua as a sitting Nigerian Senator? Siemens paid a total bribe of approximately $12.7m to some Nigerian officials for four telecommunications contracts valued about $130m. Icheoku says that this twelve million dollars bribe was probably the amount by which that contract was extra over-valued as a company like Siemens will not take a loss in a contract - not from Africa, anyways! According to a high ranking official within Siemens Limited Nigeria, corrupt payments in 2000 and 2001 commonly reached 15 to 30% of the contracts’ value. It is instructive to note that Olusegun Obasanjo was the president of Nigeria at this period under review. The Siemens bribery scandal blew open in October 2007, after a Munich court had found the company guilty of bribing government officials in several countries and fined it 201 million Euros in penalties. It is very hypocritical that subsequent to this scandal, the Umaru Yar'Adua's Federal Government of Nigeria "suspended" dealings with Siemens and the EFCC commenced investigations, but as soon as the euphoria died down, the Federal Government went back to doing business as usual with Siemens; without any fine being levied or paid by Siemens as was done in the US and Germany. Icheoku says, this is very instructive as to the seriousness with with Umaru Yar'Adua is fighting corruption in Nigeria; more-so since the implicated Nigeria Senator Jubril Aminu is still a serving Senator and chairs its' foreign affairs committee. Justice must not only be done but must be seen to been done. Senator Jubril Aminu should loose his seat at the senate and face prosecution in the spirit of charity begins at home anti-corruption stance of Umaru Yar'Adua's government. Anything short of this is unacceptable to Nigerians and the world at large who continually views Nigeria as a very corrupt country, where some highly placed government officials are corruption personified and are deemed untouchables.
3. NigComSat five (500) hundred million dollars junk Chinese satellite contract scandal:- the third in hierarchy of Icheoku's high-up corruption that demands the immediate attention of Umaru Yar'Adua in the new year is the 500 million dollars junk satellite, which failed less than 18months after it launched into orbit? Nigerian Communication Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited in conjunction with a Chinese company embarked on this white-elephant project, fully seized of the fact that it was ill-timed, ill-conceived, ill-equipped, ill-constructed by unskilled artisans, manufactured of sub-standard materials, ill-managed, not space-worthy, defective and not what the Nigerian populace needs at this time of abject hunger, joblessness, insecurity, election-rigging and general malaise pervading the country. The boyish, clean-shaved face T. Ahmed Rufai - the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NIGCOMSAT should be held to account on why he sunk Nigeria's whopping $500 million dollars in such a worthless enterprise. This becomes very imperative because the Chinese contractors to the satellite project has a litany of past sordid projects some of which failed and yet non of this unsatisfactory past performances were factored in before awarding such a huge contract to them.
Icheoku says of all the corruption scandals in Nigeria, including those involving former governors, these three enumerated corruption cases call for rapid attention of the anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria. President Umaru Yar'Adua must show Nigerians that he means business with his anti-corruption stance and that no one is untouchable in the fight. President Umaru Yar'Adua, please this is the time to act and act you must and decisively too; in order to validate yourself as a true anti-corruption president of Nigeria. Any other thing to the contrary will only perpetuate the perception that Nigeria is a very corrupt country, run by corruptible and contemptible fellows and yourself, inclusive!